78 BIOGRAPHY AND
Cass, Richard M. Johnson, Henry Clay and Martin Van Buren.
After receiving their answers, he was so thoroughly disgusted with their narrow, illiberal sentiments, that he published a manifesto, in which he boldly expressed his "Views of the Powers and Policy of the Government of the United States," a document well worthy the study of the most erudite student of national policies.
At length, to the surprise and intense gratification of many of his friends, Joseph Smith acceded to their repeated solicitations, and consented to become a candidate for the presidency of the United States.
Those who best knew him—those who comprehended the depth of his understanding, the greatness of his soul, the superhuman wisdom with which he was endowed, the magnitude of his calling as the leader of the dispensation of the fulness of times, and the mouthpiece of God to this generation, considered it a marked condescension for him to be willing to accept the position of President of the United States; while those who, not having any personal acquaintance with him, had formed their opinions by the scurrilous reports circulated about him, and only knew of him as a base impostor—an ignorant leader of a poor, despised people, designated it as one of the most absurd and even ludicrous of all pretensions. The idea of "old Jo Smith" aiming at the highest gift of the nation—"the money digger" assuming such prerogative, struck them with as much astonishment, and was treated with as much derision as though he had been one of Macbeth's ghosts.
But his friends were in earnest. They knew that through the revelations of God he was in possession of higher intelligence, and more correct understanding of national policies, and particularly the needs of our own government as a republic, than any other man living. After he had submitted himself to be announced as a candidate for the presidency, a
